The seller, Wheel Fanatyk, on Ebay also says that wood rims needn't be coddled. He is based in the Northwest and has ridden his in the rain without trouble. I have several hundred miles on both sets of wheels that I built with his Ghilaso rims and no problems. One set of rims even got wet in a rain shower, I wiped them down when I got home and they're fine.
Paul Patzkowsky
Longmont, Colorado
> Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:41:16 -0500
> From: hmsachs@verizon.net
> To: sandygilchristworld@googlemail.com; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: Re: [CR] DAM Wodden Rims Wheels
>
> Kathy Walter wrote that the seller of a pair of wheels wrote:
> <snip>
> Being wood rims, they should obviously never be used outside a
> velodrome, because water/moisture would ruin them.
> They are for tubular tyres, not clinchers. So far, I have resisted the
> temptation to use the wheels in my track bike at my local velodrome in
> Newport (S Wales, UK). They are surprisingly light.
> <snip>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> I've done a century on my '38 Paramount with wood rims, on regular old
> roads in S. Virginia and uppper North Carolina (near the coast). I've
> never ridden mine in a velodrome. Yes, I don't ride that bike when the
> roads are wet, but I haven't thought it necessary to baby the rims. But,
> I'm not 200 lbs, either - although closer than I'd like to be.
>
> harvey sachs
> mcLean va